IDW Publishing; $49.99

Created by The Maltese Falcon author Dashiell Hammett at the behest of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and illustrated by Alex Raymond, it’s hard to imagine a comic strip character with a better pedigree. As Secret Agent X-9, the comic strip debuted January 22, 1934 and ran through February 10, 1996.

Along the way, numerous cartoonists and creative teams put their stamp on the character, none more distinctive than writer Archie Goodwin and artist Al Williamson, who began a 13-year stint on the strip in 1967. That period saw it redubbed Secret Agent Corrigan (though Williamson, something of a purist, never took to the new name).

While it would never get the fame that Goodwin and Williamson got for their later lengthy run on Star Wars, it delivered superb storytelling, great characters, intrigue, adventure and just about everything one could want from a spy story.

This first volume in the series from The Library of American Comics is a great introduction.

– J.C. Vaughn